


When You're Ready to Catch Me

by stellarparallax



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Art Student! Keith, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Star Football Player! Shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 02:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13114278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarparallax/pseuds/stellarparallax
Summary: Keith went to school, did his homework, worked on his art and worked a part-time job to pay for his art supplies. As far as he was concerned, his life was complete. That is, until a chance encounter with Takashi Shirogane, the star football player at Garrison High, led to him striving for more than he thought he was capable of.





	When You're Ready to Catch Me

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my [Sheith Secret Santa"](https://sheithsecretsanta.tumblr.com/) gift for [DJ Animatics](https://djanimatics.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Wishlist item used: "high school AU where Shiro is a star football player and Keith is a art student and has a crush but doesn't know how to tell him but Shiro already knows"
> 
> Merry Christmas! I hope you like your gift!

Of course Keith picked the exact day when he had to deliver the completed props for the year-end play to the Theatre Club before the school bell rang to oversleep. It wouldn’t be him if he didn’t find some way to leave a bad impression on others. As he ran through the hallway to get to the clubroom while balancing ten foam prop swords and trying not to snap any of them in half, he bumped straight into a sweaty wall of flesh and muscle. Keith squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that if he wished hard enough he would get sucked into an alternate reality where he didn’t have to deal with the awkward situation. 

Whoever it was that Keith bumped into curled their fingers around his biceps and had a deep, smooth voice. He could have sworn that he heard angels singing in a distance. There definitely wasn’t a reality in existence in which he wouldn’t adore that voice. 

“Hey, are you okay?”

As much as he wanted to keep his eyes shut, stand there and ignore the rest of the world resuming everyday life without him, and remain in deep denial that he didn’t just bump into Takashi Shirogane, the star football player at Garrison High and probably the coolest and most attractive guy in the entire school, he knew that he would have to face the truth sooner or later. At least if he died of embarrassment, he would die of embarrassment in the arms of Takashi Shirogane. He thought that there was something almost poetic about that. 

“... Yeah…,” his voice cracked.

“That’s a relief. I wouldn’t know where to take these beautiful swords to if you died,” Takashi Shirogane replied.

“Hah… Yeah… Well, don’t worry, Takashi Shirogane, for I am fine,” Keith said, immediately regretting the words that left his lips.

Takashi Shirogane snorted, “Well, okay then. Uhm… Please don’t call me by my full name ever again. It makes me feel like I’m in trouble. Just Shiro is fine. Or Takashi, if you’re my mother.”

“Sure thing, son,” he mumbled.

“What was that?”

Keith froze. Shiro clapped his hand over his mouth and laughed so hard that Keith thought that if sheer humiliation wasn’t enough to take him to the afterlife, he’d have to do it himself. 

“You’re cute. What do I call you?”

“I… I…”

“His name is Keith and he’ll see you around. Have a nice day, Shiro!” Keith immediately recognised that voice as his neighbour and best friend since childhood, Lance. 

“Hey, you too!” Shiro called out as Lance dragged Keith to the Theatre Club room.

When they had reached a safe distance away from Shiro, Keith finally felt like his breathing went back to normal. Lance sighed and shook his head at him. 

“I didn’t peg you as they type to go after Shiro. I mean, it’s understandable —I’d hit that. I just thought you’d prefer the emo type.”

“He’s so beautiful,” Keith gasped. “I can’t talk to him. I’d die.”

“Boy, you’ve got it really bad. Anyway, here we are.”

The Theatre Club absolutely loved the craftsmanship of the foam props and decided to take him off probation and confirm him as their designated student propmaker. The Garrison High Theatre Club was a Huge Deal in the area and being the official propmaker was a huge responsibility that Keith wasn’t entirely sure that he was capable of handling. However, he had an agreement with the teacher-in-charge that he would be allowed to use their craft equipment and any excess materials that they had for his own art projects in return for his contributions. As a visual art student who didn’t have that much of a budget to spend on his own equipment and materials, it was an opportunity that was difficult to pass up.

“I told you that you never had anything to worry about!” Lance said.

As if the universe absolutely hated his guts, it chose that exact moment to place Shiro within his and Lance’s field of vision.

“Well, you know, never say never,” he teased, jabbing Keith’s side with his elbow. 

Shiro spotted them. The universe definitely wasn’t pulling any punches.

“Keith!” he waved them over.

“Keith, your boyfriend is calling for you,” Lance whispered.

“Please, just kill me.”

“But that would just be too easy! Come on, he can see you. It’d be rude to walk away now!”

“I never claimed to be polite,” he grumbled, “Besides, we’re going to be late for class if we don’t hurry.”

While he was preoccupied with arguing with Lance, he didn’t notice that Shiro had closed the distance between them and was already standing right in front of them. He held out an iPhone5 in his hand.

“You dropped something.”

Keith’s eyes widened and he did a quick pat down of his back pockets. He hadn’t realised that he dropped his phone when he crashed into Shiro earlier. 

“T-t-t-thanks.”

“No problem! Uhhh… I hope you don’t mind that I…”

Lance raised an eyebrow at him.

“I took the liberty to add my number to your contact list. You know, in case you ever need someone to help you carry your stuff.”

Keith opened his mouth to speak but his throat tightened up.

“That’s really considerate of you! Now, Keith can drop you a message ANYTIME!” Lance said, taking the phone from Shiro and handing it to Keith.

“I look forward to it. See you around, Keith.”

Keith could have sworn that he saw Shiro wink before leaving.

 

* * *

 

The first time Keith received a text message from Shiro, he almost dropped his phone into the toilet. 

He had to be in school extra early to help Lance with his homework following a late night of work at the neighbourhood donut store — a string of circumstances that led him to be half-asleep on the toilet at six a.m. in the morning. Right as he was about to fall asleep reading a tutorial on how to use the expensive new heat gun that the theatre club had managed to procure enough funds to afford, his phone vibrated, jolting him awake.

_ Good morning! Do you need help carrying anything today? — Shiro _

Keith typed out ‘nah, I’m good’, then slammed the backspace button. He typed out ‘thanks, but not today’, then slammed the backspace button. He typed out ‘what about me? I’m not feeling too hot’, then slammed the backspace button. As his eyelids were fluttering shut, he typed out something before almost letting his phone slip out of his hands. He woke up and was about to proofread the message before sending when he realised that his finger had accidentally tapped the send button.

_ Thanks, but you’re good hot — Keith _

He wished that he could drop himself into the toilet. He was about to start drafting out a blueprint on his drawing app on how he would go about doing that, when his phone vibrated again.

_ I try ;) — Shiro _

Keith inhaled sharply. Before exhaling, he flipped over to the phone app and dialed Lance’s number.

“Hey Lance? I don’t think I can meet you before school to go over homework.”

“Why? Are you sick?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes. I need the extra time to make a silicone face mask that will render me unrecognisable to Shiro so that I can continue going to school.”

“... Walk me through this, please.”

Keith groaned before trying to retell his text messaging disaster. It was difficult to finish his story when he kept getting interrupted by Lance’s roars of laughter from the other end of the phone line. Finally after at least fifteen interruptions, he managed to get the entire story across. 

“Wow… Wow… I’m… Wow.”

“Kill me, Lance.”

“I could, but I think it’ll be funnier to watch you trying to hide from Shiro today.”

“Shiro’s a junior. We don’t have any classes with him. He’s not going to be hard to avoid.”

“Are you forgetting that we have that major house meeting after school today?”

“Oh no…”

“And we’re conveniently both in the same House as Shiro?”

“Don’t say it…”

“And Shiro is the House Captain which means that he’ll be standing right in the front of the crowd with a full view of everyone, including yourself?”

“Lance, you have to help me.”

“Hmm… Come to school early and help me with my homework then maybe I’ll consider it.”

“I hate you.”

“Love you too!”

Keith let out a muffled scream.

 

* * *

 

“Now I calculate the mode?”

“No, Lance, you don’t calculate mode. Mode is the value with the highest frequency within the data.”

“Okay, so how do I calculate the highest frequency?”

“... N-no. You just look at the data and see which is the value that appears the most often.”

“Ah, okay,” Lance looked at his worksheet, then wrote his answer down. “Hey uhm, I hope you know that I really appreciate this. I know how tired you are from work.”

“It’s no prob—”

“Hey, Keith!”

Keith’s body stiffened up. He balled his hand into a fist, snapping the wooden pencil that he was holding in half. He knew that voice.

“S-s-shiro. How are you doing?” 

His body was orientated to Shiro but his wide eyes and nervous smile was only for Lance’s eyes. Lance couldn’t help but release a small chuckle. He was enjoying every bit of Keith’s pain and Keith resented that. 

“Feeling good hot, you?”

Keith squeezed his eyes shut, picturing an entire cluster of neurons misfiring in his brain.

“Listen… I was… I was half-asleep when I typed that.”

“You don’t think I’m good hot?” Shiro almost sounded hurt.

“No, I didn’t say that. I mean… I don’t normally-”

“Keith,” Shiro interrupted.

“Yeah?”

“It’s fine,” he reached out to pat Keith’s head.

“Aww,” Lance blurted out before clapping his hand over his mouth.

“Oh, damn, how rude of me. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” Shiro extended his right hand in Lance’s direction.

“Lance. See you at the House meeting later?”

“Yeah, Team Voltron all the way!” Shiro beamed, “Anyway, I have to go. See you two later.”

Lance’s eyes flitted between watching Shiro walk away and watching Keith bury his fiercely red face in his hands. 

“I think he likes you.”

“Are you kidding? He can get anyone in the school. Heck, if I were straight I’d still go out with him. Why would he even waste his time on someone like me?”

“Honestly, yeah,” Lance teased, earning him a backhanded slap on the arm.

Keith muttered something under his breath as he tapped Lance’s worksheet impatiently with his other, unbroken pencil. Before long, they were back to working on the task of completing Lance’s math homework. As much as Lance wanted to keep teasing Keith, he had to get his work done before the bell rang. 

 

* * *

 

“Hi,” Shiro breathed against the back of Keith’s ear, sending a shiver up his spine.

“S-s-stop!” Keith yelped.

“So, you like pizza?”

“What kind of question…? Yes, I do like pizza. That’s why I’m in the line for it.”

“I like pizza too,” Shiro laughed, “I don’t really like small talk, though.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“So, uhm… You like Fullmetal Alchemist?”

“I do! How did you…?” Keith looked down at himself, “Oh right, the shirt.”

“Who’s your favourite?”   
“Edward. There’s just something about how he manages to keep fighting in spite of losing so much. Have you watched it?”

“I have. Always been more of a Winry kind of guy, you know?”

“Why’s that?”

“She’s always there for the people who need her. She never gets nor wants the glory but without her, none of the victories would have been possible.”

Keith smiled. He didn’t know a lot about Shiro apart from what he’s heard from rumours, but he did seem like the type that would support and help the people he cared about achieve greatness. He remembered the time when Shiro gave up his spot in a game to someone in second string who had been benched because of bad grades. He had finally gotten his grades up enough to stay on the team, but he still didn’t make the cut for first string. Shiro had faked an injury to let him play. It had been the talk of the entire town because of how Garrison High had never won against the opposing school, but had won that time. The other boy got promoted to first string after that game. 

“Keith.” 

Even without looking, Keith could hear the smile on Shiro’s lips.

“Yeah?”

“It’s your turn to order.”

 

* * *

 

The Garrison High Annual Inter-House Sports Carnival was drawing near and the members of all the houses — Voltron, Galra, Olkaria and Earth — were convening in their assigned venues for a general briefing and discussion. However, that wasn’t the driving force for the high turnout. Following the briefing and discussion was the sign-up session for the various sporting events. Garrison High wasn’t by any means a school filled with sports enthusiasts, but they did have amazing incentives for participating in the events. In the previous years, some of the better runners were awarded cash prizes for taking first place in at least five separate races. One of them had been Keith. He definitely wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to get more money to spend on art materials.

At the same time, he wasn’t sure for how long he could tolerate sitting at the back of the gym, just watching Shiro… Speak. Public speaking Shiro was a completely different persona compared to the Shiro he knew on a personal level. Personal Shiro was nice and slightly flirty while public speaking Shiro was just so god damned confident. 

“Keith?” Shiro called out to him.

Keith stomach clenched. He looked to Lance, who had his knuckles stuck between his teeth and his eyes squeezed shut, trying his best to stifle his laughter.

“Huh?” Keith said a little too loudly.

Keith tried to get an answer out of Lance but he wasn’t giving away anything.

“Keith, could you come over to the front?” Shiro’s voice was loud, but gentle.

“Uhm… Uhm, yeah, sure.”

Keith felt the eyes of the entire House on him as he slowly walked up to the front of the gym, taking his place next to Shiro. As he got nearer, Shiro reached out to put his arm around Keith’s shoulders. 

He brought his lips close to Keith’s ear and whispered, “I called you to the front to ask if you have any tips for the 100-metre dash. I remember you were quite the competitor in that event last year.”

“I… Yeah, uhm, well… I usually focus on conditioning training. I… Consistency.”

“Ah, now that is a good strategy! Keith, would you mind if I put you in charge of all the 100-metre runners?”

“Uhh…”

Shiro tilted his head so that his eyes were at the same level as Keith’s. He studied Keith’s face before nodding slightly and diverting his attention back to the rest of the students.

“Does anyone want to be in charge of the 100-metre runners?”

The room remained silent, no one wanting to volunteer to be responsible for the training of the highlight of the sports carnival. Finally, Allura, the vice-captain volunteered herself. 

As soon as all of the other leadership roles were taken, Shiro released Keith from his grip and patted him on the back. He tilted his head towards Lance, signalling that it was okay for Keith to go back to where he was seated. 

“I’ll give you the sign-up forms later, okay?”

“Yeah,” Keith said meekly. 

“Don’t worry about it. You can go back to your seat now,” Shiro was smiling widely, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“You okay, man?” Lance whispered.

“Yeah… I just feel like I disappointed him.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Yeah… uhm… Lance, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Keith mumbled as he picked up his school bag.

“Wait,” Lance tugged at Keith’s forearm, “You’re leaving?”

“I forgot about the meeting so I told my manager that I could work earlier than usual today. I’m going to be late if I don’t go now. You know which events I want to be in right?”

Lance nodded.

Keith tried to stay calm and collected as he made his way out of the gym, shoulders slouched and head lowered. He didn’t realise that Shiro was watching him as he walked away.

 

* * *

 

The bell on the door of the donut shop rang as the door swung open. Keith suppressed a groan as he quickly put the portafilter that he was scrubbing back into the basin of detergent. If there was anything that he would never grow numb to at work, it would be how incensed he got whenever someone came in when it was almost closing time. Half of the time when it happened, the customer ordered the drinks that he needed to use most of the machines at the coffee bar to prepare. That meant that he needed to stay late at least for another thirty minutes after his shift was supposed to end to get everything rewashed and dried. 

“We’re closed,” he declared monotonously, hoping that the customer would take that as a sign to leave.

“Keith?”

Keith shivered as he turned around to confirm his suspicions that the voice that he heard belonged to Shiro.

“Shi-shiro… what are you doing here?”

The air-conditioning was freezing cold, but Keith could have sworn he felt beads of perspiration roll down his back. 

“I came for a snack. I work across the street in the diner and I just had a really unpleasant shift. Unreasonable customers, screaming managers, you know the drill,” Shiro sighed, “But if you’re closed, I guess I can go to the convenience store on my way home.”

“Yeah… uhm, choose whichever donut you want. I haven’t gotten my staff meal so you can take two for free. I can’t offer you a drink though….” He pointed to the coffee bar behind him. “I really don’t want to clean everything again.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I’ll get the blueberry jam filled one and and the chocolate pudding… if that’s okay.”

“Yeah, no problem!”

“It’s just that my baby sister really likes chocolate pudding and…”

“Shiro?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t worry about it. I rarely take anything home anyway. I’ve been working here for about a year and my entire household is sick of donuts.”

“Hah… thanks.”

Keith dried his hands on his apron, and slipped on the disposable food-safe glove. He picked up the chocolate pudding donut and put it in individual box. He pulled off his glove so that he could fold the box without getting any chocolate stains on the pristine white paper.

“Do you want me to heat up the blueberry one?”

“Wouldn’t that be more trouble?”

“I’m willing to make an exception.”

Shiro smiled and nodded.

Keith slipped on a new glove and picked up the blueberry jam filled donut. He placed it gently in the centre of a ceramic plate and popped it into the microwave. After a ten-second wait, he pulled it out and handed it to Shiro.

“Here you go.”

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”

“You can show it by not sitting where I’ve already cleaned,” Keith chuckled.

Shiro gave him a two-finger salute before turning towards the obviously uncleaned area of the donut shop. He carefully pushed the plates and mugs that had been left by the last customer that sat there aside and ate his donut in relative silence. 

Keith went back to scrubbing the portafilters, making sure that he got every nook and cranny clean before setting them aside to dry. Not everyone at work was as thorough as he was because their manager had never been strict about it. Sometimes, when he worked the opening shift during the weekends, he would find the portafilters completely unwashed. He knew that the older full-time staff did it to taunt the younger part-timers and he hoped that if he made sure to clean everything for the ones working the opening shifts during the weekdays, they’d eventually return the gesture.

Finally, he was done. All he had left to do was to clean the dining area, then tear his manager away from her paperwork to count the money in the cash register. He walked to the back room to grab the broom and mop. When he walked back into the dining area, Shiro was already gone.

He didn’t know what he expected. Shiro was obviously tired from work and he probably had to go home to do… school stuff. Plus, he had football training the next day and Keith figured that he probably would want to get as much sleep as possible. He didn’t know why he even entertained the possibility that Shiro would wait for him to get off work, then walk him home like he was in some high school fairy tale. It was such an unrealistic wish. 

He spent the rest of his shift, cleaning up as quickly as he could manage. He was beyond exhausted and he had to get home to complete the homework that he couldn’t finish during his break. When he was done, he let his manager know that he would be leaving before clocking out. 

As he walked out of the shop, he pulled on his signature red cropped jacket. It had been a gift from his foster brother before he moved away for college, and he treasured it dearly. They had always been close, but once they started spending less and less time together, there was a distance formed between them that he didn’t know how to bridge. 

“Hey.”

Keith jumped, startled at the voice that interrupted his thoughts. For about a minute, he breathed shallowly, his hand over his chest.

“What’s wrong with you, Shiro? You scared the crap out of me!”

Shiro laughed.

“It’s not funny. Don’t do that again!”

“Okay, okay,” Shiro said as he emerged from the shadow that he had been masking his presence in. He got closer to Keith and ruffled his hair. 

“Which way is home for you?”

“What?”

“I’m not letting you go home alone this late! What if you get lost?”

“That… that would be extremely unlikely… considering that my apartment is literally two blocks away.”

“Is that ninth avenue?”

“Yeah?”

“Wow, I didn’t know we were neighbours.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I live on ninth too. Which building?”

“Six-three-eight.”

“I’m at six-four-two! Huh, small world…”

“Yeah…” Keith was wearing a full-face blush.

“Let’s go, my parents are waiting for me. Race you back home!” Shiro said as he started running towards their neighbourhood, leaving Keith behind.

“Hey… HEY WAIT!”

Since he was a little boy, Keith had spent a great deal of his life running, whether it was in races or from abusive foster parents. There was just something so freeing about feeling the wind on his face and his chest lit ablaze. In his freshman year, his homeroom teacher had taken the liberty to get him the application forms to a sports school so that he’d have a shot at being a professional athlete, but Keith had refused to fill them up. While he liked running, his passion was in art and sculpting. Besides, he knew that his less-than-athletically-inclined best friend wouldn’t be able to get into the school with him. Keith wasn’t certain that he’d be able to find someone that he could get along with as well as he could with Lance in a new environment. 

It didn’t take more than a couple of strides for him to catch up with Shiro. 

“You’re really good,” Shiro said when they stopped to catch their breaths.

“You aren’t too bad yourself.”

“Now tell me, why didn’t you want to be in charge of the 100-metre runners?”

“I… I’m not good enough for the job.”

“Bullshit,” Shiro forced out, his eyes darkening.

Shiro took a step closer towards Keith, making him shiver where he stood. He couldn’t remember Shiro ever looking that angry, especially not at one particular person. 

“I… I can’t really get along with other people.”

“And so you think there’s no point in ever trying?”

“Well, I didn’t say—“

“Take the job.”

“But Allura…”

“I’m sure she’ll live. She only took it because no one else wanted it. Take the job.”

“Why… why are you being so pushy?”

“Keith, I know how talented you are. The problem is that talent can only get you so far. It doesn’t really matter now, but when you get out into the real world connections will matter a lot. It’s about time you start learning how to make them.”

“... And what better time to start than when you’re around to supervise?”

“Don’t think of it as me supervising. Think of it as me being ready to offer you any advice that you’d need along the way.”

“... Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

Shiro’s eyes widened. He took another step forward hesitantly. Suddenly, he bent his knees and scooped Keith up into a hug, lifting him off the ground.

“I’m so proud of you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Keith laughed as he buried his blushing face in Shiro’s shoulder.

 

* * *

 

Each house was assigned a different day of the week where they would have the whole stadium to themselves so that they wouldn’t feel too pressured being around participants from the other teams. Until recently, there had been a fairly even win distribution for all of the teams and it had never been that competitive. However, it was ten years ago that Team Galra had left all the other teams in the dust, resorting to cheating methods that no one manage to prove with absolute certainty. That completely changed the way the games were since the inception of the house system. 

In his campaign during the house captain elections, Shiro had run on the promise of bringing back the the friendly competition to the games. To achieve that, he had to get Team Voltron to end the winning streak of Team Galra. 

Keith had never been one to put much thought into competition. All he cared about was the prize money. At the same time, even he had to admit that it was difficult not to be swayed by the charm and conviction that Shiro radiated in every single training session. If Shiro was counting on him to turn the 100-metre runners into champions, he would do it.

“Your form is poor, straighten up. Yes, that’s it,” Keith called out.

“You’re doing well so far!” Shiro said as he ruffled Keith’s hair, “Give it a few weeks and they’ll start to like you more than me.”

“Unlikely. I still hear them back talk sometimes.”

“Well, you are pushing really hard. Keep it up,” Shiro winked at him before leaving to attend to the representatives for the javelin-throwing competition.

As soon as Shiro left Keith alone long enough, Lance slid up next to him.

“So, when are you going to ask him out? I’m asking for a friend.”

“What friend? I’m your only friend!” Keith retorted.

“First of all, rude. Secondly, what’s your point?”

“... FINE. I’m waiting for a sign.”

“What sign?”

“You know, a sign that he…”

“He…?”

“That he likes me, okay?”

“Let’s be real, Keith, you wouldn’t be able to notice a sign if it slapped you in the face with a ten-foot radius cake.”

“What do you mean?”

Lance sighed.

“How long has it been since you started talking to him?”

“Two weeks?”

“How many times has he asked you to watch his football practice sessions so that you could ‘give him some good tips’?”

“No, but that was really for—“

“What do YOU know about football?”

“Nothing…?”

“EXACTLY. The boy is trying to impress you.”

“Nah-uh!”

“Keith,” Lance grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, “I’ve watched him during practice sessions when you weren’t around. Trust me, he does not rip off his shirt a minimum of seventeen times per hour.”

“There could be other reasons. Maybe he wasn’t feeling too sweaty that day?”

“How many times has he walked you home from work?”

“... Every time we both had work.”

“How often does he hug you?”

“Honestly, I’ve lost count.”

“I think my work here is done,” Lance huffed before leaving the tracks to go to for his extra math lessons.

Keith watched Lance walked away, before turning his attention to Shiro. When their eyes met, the corners of Shiro’s eyes crinkled into a smile. He smiled awkwardly back, then went back to whipping his team into shape.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, what do you think?”

Lance’s raised an eyebrow at Keith, prompting him to wave what he had in his hand harder. Lance took the two slips of paper that Keith was holding and examined it.

“Admission Tickets to Disneyland… No way, you’re finally going to ask him out?”

“Do you think he’ll say yes?”

“Who cares? If he says no, you can take me! I’ve always wanted to go.”

“LANCE.”

“Yes, Keith is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class?”

Keith bit his lip, realising that that he was still in English class.

“No, sorry for disrupting the class, Ms. Tan,” he mumbled.

She nodded, indicating that she accepted his apology. 

“I bet he will,” Lance whispered.

“Are you sure?”

“I mean, you’d have to actually ask him to find out. But if it’s just my opinion, I’d put money on him saying yes.”

“Okay, how’s this envelope?”

Lance looked down at the envelope that Keith had set on his desk. The base colour was black and it had been lined with red and dark purple foil. There were the words “To Shiro” written in calligraphy in the middle of the front side in slightly paler purple than the foil.

“Wow,” Lance breathed.

“Do you think he’ll like it?”

“Well, if he does like it, you know that it’s true love.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s pretty hideous.”

Keith hissed back.

“I’m kidding. It’s cute and it’s his favourite colours.”

“Wait, how do you know that?”

“When he’s not in his football uniform, do you see him wearing clothes in any other colour?”

“Touche.”

“So when are you giving it to him?”

“Uhm, this Wednesday.”

“Wednesday as in Valentine’s Day?”

“Well… Uhm… Yeah…”

“Oh my God, that is the sappiest thing in the world.”

“Do you think it’s a bad—”

“Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“Just do it.”

“Keith, Lance, you know you’re free to go now, right?” Ms Tan interrupted. 

“Oh, I… I’m sorry for… It’s my fault, please don’t punish Lance.”

“It’s okay, Keith. You’re one of my best students. I don’t mind if you’re not paying attention every now and then.”

She glanced down at the Keith’s desk.

“Is that for Valentine’s Day?”

“Yeah…”

“Shiro… Hisa Shirogane? Good luck.”

“Actually, it’s for her brother, Takashi Shirogane.”

“Oh, then you’d really need the luck,” she laughed, patting him on the head, “I’m just teasing. I’m sure he’ll like it.”

She left the classroom, leaving Keith and Lance to pack their things and make their way to the cafeteria.

“Wait, Shiro has a sister? How come I’ve never met her before?”

“Hisa… Hisa is really sick. She hasn’t been in school for almost a year.”

“How bad is it?”

“She has stage II breast cancer.”

“God, the poor thing. Does she need surgery?”

“I don’t know. I asked Shiro but he avoided the question. I didn’t want to push any further.”

“Well, at least going to Disneyland can take his mind off it, even if it is just for a day.”

“I hope so.”

 

* * *

 

Valentine’s Day arrived sooner than Keith had anticipated. He was feeling extremely self-conscious about the acne that had developed overnight after a week of late nights trying to complete his art assignments for the huge portfolio review that he had in a month. Usually, it would never have bothered him unless it started to hurt, but that day was different. It wasn’t every day that he was asking out the extremely attractive star football player.

The hallways were packed and Keith had never been more thankful that there were few students as tall as Shiro. If he were being honest, he liked that Shiro was much bigger than he was. He loved the feeling of being wrapped up in Shiro’s much larger arms. It made him feel safe. This time however, Shiro’s size was nothing but a point for practicality. There was no other way that Keith could possibly locate him otherwise.

He wasn’t surprised to find Shiro walking back and forth along the hallways of the science building. It wasn’t deserted, but the crowd was a lot less dense than in the hallways along the lockers. In spite of how popular he was and how he was a House Captain, Shiro wasn’t normally good with large crowds if he wasn’t prepared to deal with them. 

Keith hid himself behind a pillar as he formulated his plan of attack. He wasn’t sure if he should jump on him, or approach him slowly. He fiddled with the envelope in his hands as he weighed out the pros and cons of each method. Finally, he settled on one of them.

“Allura, what’s this?” he heard Shiro’s voice.

He took a peek from behind the pillar. Allura was beaming as she handed Shiro a plain, white envelope. Shiro took the envelope and pulled the flap back to look at its contents. He gasped and looked back at Allura. Keith’s breath hitched as he waited for Shiro’s reaction.

Tears started to fall from Shiro’s eyes.

Allura laughed and opened her arms invitingly. Shiro bent down slightly to hug her.

“Thank you. Thank you. I love you so much.”

Keith clenched his jaw. He took a deep breath and released it. Then, he tossed the envelope aside and walked away slowly, hoping that he was quiet enough so as to not disturb the happy couple.

He didn’t get far before he ran into Lance. He wouldn’t have minded telling Lance what had just happened if his wounds hadn’t still been so raw. 

“Keith? How did it go?”

“He… He has a girlfriend now.”

“What?”

“Allura.”

“ALLURA?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait, Keith, I don’t thin--”

“I don’t want to hear it, Lance. I… I waited too long.”

“Wait, Keith, listen to me. I think you’re misund--”

“Lance, I--”

Keith was interrupted by the vibrations from his phone in his pocket. He fished it out and checked the caller ID. Work was calling him.

“Nyma?”

“Keith, Hunk called in sick today. Do you mind coming in tonight?”

Keith knew that Hunk wasn’t actually sick. Shay’s schedule must have freed up, giving them time to go out on a date. Keith didn’t like being called in on such short notice, but at least someone would be enjoying their Valentine’s day.

“Sure, I’ll be there.”

 

* * *

 

“Hot mocha for Liz!”

“Over here!”

Keith handed the paper cup to the customer, giving her the most genuine-looking false smile he could muster. She was a regular and she was always nice to him, even when he wasn’t always the best server to her. She thanked him and dropped a few crumpled one-dollar bills into the tip jar.

“Thank you,” he tried harder to smile.

He went back to serving new customers, packing donut after donut as Nyma rang up the orders. Usually, he would have been perfectly capable of manning the entire counter alone. However, Valentine’s Day meant that there were a lot more customers that what he was used to. He knew that he would struggle to drag himself home when his shift ended but he took comfort in knowing that he would be paid extra. Valentine’s Day wasn’t technically a national holiday so Nyma wasn’t legally required to pay him extra, but she was nice enough to give them a small bonus for the trouble of having more customers to serve. If he tried his best to be frugal, he might even have enough to afford new copic markers that he had been eyeing in the store for weeks. 

Soon, it was closing time. Keith stayed behind the counter to take the final orders and clean the espresso machine while Nyma sanitised the tables and swept the floor. As he was washing the portafilters, Liz approached the counter and spoke to him.

“Keith? Have a good rest tonight. You deserve it.”

He put the portafilters down and turned around.

“Thank you. Uhm… I’m sorry I wasn’t too great today. Do you want a free donut?”

“That’s okay. Why don’t you save it for the guy waiting outside for you?”

“I’m sorry?”

“I mean, I assume he’s waiting for you. I’m pretty sure that isn’t Nyma’s husband.”

“Oh. Uh… Well… Happy Valentine’s Day!”

“You too!” she said before leaving the store.

Keith’s brows furrowed. He had no idea who the mystery man was and he was quite honestly afraid of finding out. In his time working at the store, he had been fortunate enough to not run into any unsavoury characters, but he wasn’t completely oblivious to the possibility. The other workers have warned him about a few people who followed them home, and others who started threatening violence. 

When he was done cleaning up, he knew that he couldn’t hide in the store forever. He would wait for Nyma to be done with her paperwork so they could leave together, but she had a tendency to stay till midnight. He had no plans to spend the next day trying his best not to fall asleep in class.

He clocked out and grabbed his bag. 

Taking a deep breath, he pushed the front door open.

“Keith.”

Keith tensed, slowly turning to confirm the identity of the person who had just addressed him.

“S-s-shiro.”

Shiro smiled and walked up to him. He spread out his arms as he got closer to Keith. Keith took a step back.

“What are you doing?”

“I was going to hug you. Keith, is there something wrong?”

“No, I mean, what are you doing here? It’s Valentine’s day. Why aren’t you spending it with Allura?”

“Why would I spend it with Allura?”

“Because she’s your girlfriend?”

“What?”

“You… I heard you tell her that you love her earlier today.”

“Keith, I can explain.”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but I want no part of it. I have more self-respect than that.”

“Keith…”

“I just wish that I hadn’t fallen for it for so long.”

“Keith…”

“I honestly didn’t expect this from—“

“KEITH, listen to me. Allura isn’t my girlfriend. We’re close but we’re not in a relationship. I told her I loved her because she gave me a cheque to pay for my sister’s curative surgery.”

“What?”

“I… I like you, Keith. I hadn’t asked you out because I was working so hard to keep my scholarship and help my parents save up the money for Hisa’s treatment. I didn’t want to go into a relationship knowing that I would constantly have to cancel dates or fall asleep during them.”

“I—”

“But that’s not a problem anymore now that I don’t have to work so many hours at my job anymore. I… I would be honoured if you’d go out with me.”

“Shiro, I—”

Shiro reached for his back pocket and revealed a black envelope with red and dark purple foil lining.

“I know that you paid for it, but you threw it aside and Lance picked it up and gave it to me so I feel like I have the right to use it.”

Keith cocked an eyebrow at him.

“I’m kidding, I’ll take you out somewhere else and pay for it with my own money… If you’d let me. I just thought it was a shame to waste such expensive tickets.”

“I… Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

Shiro crushed Keith into a hug, lifted him off the ground and spun him around, Keith chuckling in his ear. Finally, he put him down and pressed a kiss on his forehead.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Shiro,” Keith whispered before pulling the taller boy’s face down to his level for a kiss. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading till the end! I would really appreciate it if you left kudos and comments!
> 
> Special acknowledgements goes to:  
> \- Trisha for helping me iron out some kinks in the plot and believing in me <3 [tumblr](http://anglmukhii.tumblr.com/), [ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/anglmukhii)  
> \- Honey for doing word sprints with me and helping to beta part of it! [tumblr](https://burnthoneyy.tumblr.com/), [ao3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/burnthoneyy)  
> \- Last but not least, a HUGE VOLTRON-SIZED THANKS to Sam for being my beta reader, suggesting ideas and just being an overall sweetheart!! [tumblr](http://epiproctan.tumblr.com/), [ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/epiproctan)
> 
> You can yell at me @stellar-parallax on tumblr!


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